


Isolated Insanity

by UnfunnyClown



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Socks Crew (YouTube RPF), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 08:46:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30052878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnfunnyClown/pseuds/UnfunnyClown
Summary: He was alone, all on his own now
Relationships: Blaza Plays & FatMemeGod (Video Blogging RPF), Dinosaur.exe & Nicholas | SocksFor1, FatMemeGod & Nicholas | SocksFor1, FatMemeGod & TbhHonest (Video Blogging RPF), Joocie & Nicholas | SocksFor1, Laff & Nicholas | SocksFor1
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	1. Fall from Grace

**Author's Note:**

> Written before the day 6 stream

Socks have never been so relief to have a dragon attack happen. 

He balled up his bare fist,  _ he took off his gloves to wear the dumb daycare uniform _ , and punched through the closest window. 

And even though he punched through harder matter, it didn't hurt any less when the glass shards impaired his bare hands. Some even breaking and getting onto his body, cutting through his clothes and into his skin. 

He jumped up onto the window and broke more of it, doing a concerning good job at holding back his pained screams. Although, he still flinched whenever the glasses cut deeper and  deeper  into his skin. 

His knees buckled when he jumped out of the window, nearly tumbling onto the ground. However he maintained his stance and ran as fast as he could away from  everyone and  everything . 

It didn't matter if he trip and nearly fall over, he could distantly hear everyone's voices and that was enough to motivate him to run  faster than he ever had before. 

When he reached the military base in what felt like seconds, a wave of sadness struck him out of nowhere. He slowed down to a halt and stared at the gates. 

He's... he'll no longer be welcome here, won't he? 

He's... he's not safe anywhere anymore. 

He held back a sob and just forced himself to climb over the gates with as much energy as he had. He ran over towards the furthest sleeping quarter and punched down with his fist, flinching back when the glass shards buried itself deeper into him. 

He moved on quickly and broke through the wooden floor. As soon as his eyes landed onto the chest, he opened it and scooped up the two important things contained inside. 

Meme's medical degree, and the tank he and his... 

And the tank he worked so hard to build. 

He got up and dashed out, not bothered enough to patch up the hole. He rumbled through the chests, trying not to take any items that won't be any use to him. 

_ T̶r̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶s̶u̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶f̶r̶i̶e̶n̶d̶s̶ _

He never once thought about the blood slowly dripping down from his right hand, the blood slowly soaking the badly made daycare uniform. 

It was almost like they wanted him to get attack.

His eyes landed onto the portal frame, a thought hit him and he rushed back into the chest, looking around for a familiar flint and steel. He hissed out, flinching when he cut his index and middle finger onto something, which in turn caused some items to land onto his hand, crushing it. 

He cussed under his breath. He picked up the flint and steel and ran towards the portal frame. With little struggle, he reactivated the portal. 

Socks placed away the flint and steel, making his pants much more bloodier than before. 

He ran in, immediately shock at the change from a nice, bone shivering atmosphere to the overwhelmingly boiling heat of the nether. 

The nether was already bad on its own, and the mods in this world they ended up trapped in did not help at all, simply making the heat unbearable. 

He grabbed whatever armour he managed to get and tore it off, gripping onto it tightly upon feeling the burn. 

Of _course_ , he got the metal armour. 

With his luck, he'll lose his wrist device, his last connection with the outside world and end up dead. 

Permanently. 

After he knocked off all of the burning armour, he moved to his wrist device. 

It was to access his inventory, the device on their wrist can do many things, they probably will avoid breaking it in war, or chase,  _ or whatever .  _

They weren't  _ that _ heartless, that is something Socks is still confidence in about them. 

He walked over towards armour he thrown away from himself. He bit his lip when he grabbed the armour, he carefully and shakily placed it into the holographic screen. He watched with a blank expression as the coding of the armour broke down and slotted itself in one of the free boxes. 

The inventory was odd. Whether you'll store something away in a pocket or a bag, or you carefully place it into your holographic screen, it'll still end up in your inventory. 

However, Socks didn't question it today. He just mindlessly placed his two armour pieces into the holographic screen without worry. At least he didn't have to search for someplace on his clothing to shove burning armour in for future use. 

He sighed out and removed the holographic screen of his inventory. He looked down to his outfit, jumping back when he saw the amount of blood he was bleeding out and how bloody his clothing was. 

Jesus Christ how did he...  how did he not notice that beforehand? 

He thought back towards his usual, astronaut attire. Then he remembered that he still had his helmet, which while made him happy, did not helped with his situation. 

He reluctantly took off his helmet, gripping onto it tightly. 

He can't store his personal helmet away in his inventory, it came from his home world, not where they're trapped in. 

His space attire was more or less just protective gear he made so he'll always have some form of protection whenever he's traveling. 

It just became his everyday outfit. 

Until now. 

He hasn't stripped out of his astronaut suit since,  _ forever _ _ago_. 

He looked around the dimension, he gripped onto his helmet tighter, his breathing slowly beginning to pick up on pace. 

The nether felt...  so much bigger since he last entered the dimension, he felt small in comparison to it, even smaller than usual. 

Then it clocked in his head. 

He was alone, all on his own now. 

He dropped the helmet, not reacting when the sound of glass shattering hit his ears. 

He was alone,  _ all on his own now.  _

He took a shaky breath and got onto his knees, his mind so far away from reality that he missed how the thin layer of his pants burnt up, hissing when his knees touched the ground. 

_ He was alone, all on his own now.  _

He choked out a sob, holding onto the sides of his stomach. He crawled in on himself, shaking as the reality of the situation began to settle in his mind. 

_ He was  alone ,  ** all on his own now ** . _

He screamed out, uncaring if anyone hear him. There was no reason that any one of them would be in the nether. Even if they were in the hell dimension, they won't be able to detect him from just catching a glimpse of his scream. 

This was the second time that the concept of time itself have escaped Socks' grasp. 

He only learned of how long he was in the gulag when he attended the funeral, when Laff mentioned how it had been a week since the wedding. 

It caught him off guard at the time, although he never brought it up to anyone since... well if they felt like Socks needed to know how long he was in the gulag, they would've already told him. 

He wished he had known it was simply just a week, because he thought his friends had left him to rot for months.

Seasons didn't exist in the world, he couldn't tell from just looking at the environment. 

He would've felt better, but hey! His feelings doesn't matter, does it?  It was war. 

The only thing that matter was appearance. 

He had to appear strong, even to himself. 'Fake it 'til you make it,' They'd say, and he took it to heart. 

And now here he is, breaking down in tears in a foreign dimension. All of his friends having left him, deciding he was guilty. 

He could've spent days there,  _ weeks even!  _

It didn't matter though, because when he woke up, he was still a free man. Although, very miserable. 

He immediately ate some of the remaining Laff Loafs he had to gain energy.

_ "You make me sick." _

It didn't taste as good as it did before. 

It actually felt harder somehow, dry and stale unlike before. 

He couldn't just get onto his feet and walk around immediately, finding out his knees were bleeding and slightly burnt by getting up then immediately falling down. He soon learned that he couldn't stayed still in one spot to recover as the ground burnt him if he stayed for too long. 

Somehow though, after waiting for some time, he got up and slowly stalked towards the portal, barely lifting his feet up. 

He stumbled out of the portal and clinged onto the frame, breathing heavily. 

" Socks? " 

He looked up and met Joocie's eyes, who was holding onto a chest. He froze up, gripping onto the portal frame tightly and his eyes widened. His breathing grew heavy and his body shook as the intensity of Joocie's stare bored into his soul. 

Joocie slowly dropped the chest and took a step forwards. He slowly raised a hand, causing him to pull out his nearly broken wooden sword, pointing it at him. Joocie stepped back, surprising him by offering a friendly smile. 

Socks lowered his weapon, widening his eyes when Joocie waved at him. 

"Joocie hurry up!  I got a tight schedule to run! " Laff's voice screamed out. 

He jumped back, snapping his eyes behind Joocie. He looked back towards the blue eyes of Joocie, he ran forwards and grabbed onto his shoulders. He leaned forwards and whispered into his ear, " I'll be back ." 

Socks widened his eyes as he was pushed back into the portal. His head hit the ground, staring up into the roof of the nether. He sat up and looked at the portal, he breathed in sharply when the portal broke. 

He jumped onto his feet and ran forwards, staring at the portal frame. 

He stepped backwards and thought back towards Joocie's words, he managed to hold himself back from relighting the portal. He hesitantly sat back down onto the ground, staring at the portal frame. 

He didn't noticed when he slipped into the lands of blank dreams, but either way, he was startled awake by the very loud and very sudden sound coming from in front of him. He snapped his head up and found Joocie. 

He wore a glass helmet and tied his hair up into a simple bun instead of a ponytail, which made it easier to contain his hair. 

None of them know what Joocie is, nor do they care that much. Although they did find it odd that some parts of him were robotic, some parts of him were human and how his hair works just like water. 

"Socks!" He crouched down, grinning at him nervously. Joocie looked at his outfit and the smile flattered immediately upon taking in everything. "What...  happened? " 

"Didn't they-?" 

"They told me everything but I- I just wanted to hear your side before making a judgment," Joocie explained, offering a gentle smile. He grabbed onto Socks' arms and lightly tugged. 

He willingly got onto his feet. "The story just really didn't make sense. Unless there's more shapeshifters out there, that footage has to be fake," Joocie unnecessarily continued. "That's what-  That's what you and Laff are, right? " 

"I forgot I could do that," Socks confessed. "It just... it hurt so badly that I stopped doing that." 

He looked away from Joocie when he offered him a sympathetic, apologetic smile. He leaned forwards and hugged Socks, he jumped at the cold touch of the metal plates that made up his friends' arms. He quickly gave in though and returned the hug. 

"I'm sorry that they just- They just turned on you." Socks gripped onto his shirt tightly. "That's not your fault."

A whine was held back in Socks' throat when Joocie broke the hug. "So uh... care to fill me in?" He cracked a smile at him. 

Socks sighed out and looked away. "I. I don't even remember going to the military base before the wedding even happened in the first place," He started off, shoving his most likely infected hands into the pockets of the barely recognisable pants. "And the voice sounded... it's scary man, he sounded  exactly like me." 

"I wouldn't say  exactly ... but he was very close," Joocie mumbled out. He felt a tap on his shoulder and made eye contact with Joocie once again. "But uh, I was asking about what had happened to you within these past few weeks?" 

Socks didn't miss frown on Joocie's face, however he was very caught up by the time frame Joocie had just given to him. 

"I... it feels like it's been hours." He looked downwards. He whispered to himself, "How long have I been passed out for?" 

He heard Joocie sighed out and looked back towards him. 

"Socks, do you want another hug?" 

He dashed forwards and hugged Joocie, knocking him back a few pixels. 

He heard a chuckle, soon followed by arms wrapping around him.

It was broken just the next moment though. 

"You... definitely need medical attention," Joocie mumbled out. He turned behind him to the portal and looked back towards him. "But I got a feeling they won't welcome you back that easily..." 

"Yeah, I wonder why," Socks responded with a blank tone, causing a laugh to come out from Joocie. 

"I got an idea." He raised an eyebrow at that. Socks gestured for him to continue, mumbling out a, _"_ _ Go on ."  _

"How about we meet up past midnight? Then I can help you up without worrying about everyone," Joocie proposed, grinning at him. "You would have to tell me when to come out," Socks explained. "I can't exactly tell time from here." 

Joocie giggled out and nodded his head. "I'll privately message you on the wrist device." He tapped onto his own wrist device. 

He hugged Socks briefly before backing up. He waved at him with a polite grin and backed up into the portal. He cracked a smile, his mind lingering on Joocie.

_ Many he wasn't alone after all?  _

He stood still, looking around at the scene. He walked around, taking in the environment but careful as to not stray too far away. 

He checked on his wrist device every once in a while, waiting for that one fateful message. 

And when he finally did received the message, he immediately rushed into the portal. 

"Hey Socks." He looked up and his expression brightened when he found Joocie.

Joocie back up and pulled out a bed, placing it down. "I just felt like you would need this." He offered his hand, which Socks accepted after moments of thinking. "Thanks man." He was then led to the bed by his friend. 

He sat down onto the bed and Joocie got onto his knees. He pulled out bandages and inched closer towards Socks, lightly pulling his legs closer to him. 

"I'm not experienced in this field so.. sorry if you feel any pain," Joocie warned. He scooted closer and grabbed onto his right tight, he wrapped the bandages around his right knee. He pulled out a sword and cut the bandage once he felt like he layered it enough. 

Socks decided to lay down onto the bed, staring up into the ceiling blankly. He looked through the window to see some stars. 

No matter what will happen, the stars will always be around to comfort him. 

"You know it's a good thing that no one's around right now," Joocie joked. Socks felt the bed sink slightly, followed by his legs being separated. Joocie's hand moved to grab his left leg and move so it was dangling off of the bed. "It'll be hard to explain." 

"Is it because I'm an outlaw now or something else?" Socks joked back, pretending to not know what Joocie was obviously joking about. 

"I guess we'll go with that." 

He felt the extra weight of the bed was removed. He wasn't surprised when he felt bandages wrapped around his other knee.

"Where did you place your astronaut suit? I couldn't find it," Joocie spoke up after moments of silence. "I... They probably have taken it away by now," Socks answered, his voice growing quiet as a saddened realisation hit him. "Blaza would know where I keep it, and he..."

"I saw. Just saying, it's probably for the better if you stay away any pair of orange bear ears if you ever spot some. Even more than you'll want to avoid Meme." 

He gripped onto the bed tightly, his breathing slowly growing faster. 

"You can cry Socks."

He softened at hearing those words but still, he held himself back. 

His eyes snapped towards Joocie when he got up. He moved his leg back onto the bed, he walked around the bed. Socks flinched when felt Joocie grabbed onto his arm.

"You burned some of your right arm. I... I didn't brought any potions..." He confessed, and just from the tone alone, he could tell Joocie felt bad. "It's alright," He tried to reassure him. He shut his lips tight and looked towards the wall then he sat up slightly. "It doesn't hurt as much as it did before." 

Joocie shot him a doubtful look at him. He sighed out and gave in, moving past that. His eyes moved down to his hand, widening as soon as he saw the cuts in his hand. 

"Socks what-?" He frowned at them. He let go of Socks and ran off. "There's a reason I wear gloves," He commented casually. He heard Joocie cursed out distantly and he entered his vision once again. "Why aren't there any pinches?" 

He shrugged, "Ask whoever made this world." Joocie sighed out at his respond.

The world was odd. 

They heard tales of abandoned worlds that still stand, long after being crafted, it lives on. 

Some horror stories will say that as soon as you find one, stay far away and never set feet unless you'll want to stay there forever, doomed to never see the daylight outside that world. Some say that the creator,  or multiple , died in there and never woke up again. 

However, not a single one of those stories explain why the worlds haven't been destroyed yet. 

All of them did shared one thing though, and that the worlds can come in on any mode but hardcore. 

Joocie got onto his knees once again and grabbed onto his right wrist, pulling it towards himself. He raised his free hand up and then his fingers separated from his palm, becoming dark red and sharp that look similar to claws.

Socks widened his eyes and stared at his fingers in shock. 

"I'm going to pick out the glass shards. I might scratch you because my fingers might be a bit too thick," He warned. Almost immediately, Socks flinched and tried to tear himself away from his hold. 

Joocie yelled out and grabbed onto his wrist tighten. The sound of metal plates slapping against each other echoed and Socks winched.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Joocie immediately apologised. He removed his hands from Socks and quickly changed his left hand to appear as human once again. He looked down to find a new cut opened on his hand. "I didn't mean to hurt your wrist! I just didn't want to cut open a big wound on your hand and I just panicked!" 

He recovered from the shock of the blood spilling from his hand rapidly. He looked back to Joocie and brought his left hand up, waving at him dismissively. 

"It's alright! It's my fault that it happened."

Joocie pulled his sleeve over his palm and placed it over his injured hand, carefully clapping his hand in between his hands. "It's already red so no one will notice," Joocie explained before Socks could say anything. He looked up to find Joocie's eyes furrowed in concern and guilt. 

"It's not your fault." 

He met his gaze then looked back to his clapped hand. 

"I have some extra clothes that I can fletch for you," Joocie offered, trying to change the topic of conversation. Socks accepted it and answered, "You don't have to help me." 

"I want to though. You're still my friend Socks." 

He widened his eyes and leaned back, his mouth gapping open. 

He quickly shut his mouth and tore his gaze away from Joocie. 

The silence returned quietly on their tippy toes and sat themselves between the two individuals. They soon realised how annoying they were and got up. They still stayed though, just leaving the two alone and respectfully watching. 

They just watched as Joocie picked out every glass shard buried in Socks's hand, accidentally cutting him every once in a while. 

He carefully wrapped the bandages around his hand, cutting it with his finger when he felt like he had applied enough. He moved to his left hand, doing the same on the same scar on his palm. 

Their eyes lingered onto the scene, not moving, even when Joocie pulled off his hoodie and pushed it into his chest. 

They dashed away when Joocie spoke up.

"I have a bunch of hoodies to spare, you can have this one." Socks grabbed onto it, looking up to him in confusion. Joocie glanced away and made eye contact. "It's okay if the hoodie gets tore, but I'll like it if you keep it in good condition. It means a lot to me." 

A thought hit him and he looked down to the hoodie. He gripped onto it tightly. 

"Hey uh. Joocie?"

"Yeah?"

He didn't move his head when he felt the bed sank next to him. 

"I..." He slowly looked up towards Joocie, meeting his eyes. "You're the only who's still with me, right?" "I mean." He looked away and scratched the back of his neck, he noticed that his hand have returned to its human form. "Kinda? I'm not really sure but I'm definitely still willing to help you." 

Socks looked away and stared at the red hoodie. He sighed out and threw himself back onto the bed. He felt a hand rubbed his shoulder comfortably, he glanced up and found Joocie leaning over him. 

"I know I'm asking a lot but... are you willing to run away with me?" He wasn't surprised when Joocie's lapis blue eyes widened. He looked away and bit down on his lip. 

The silence returned, and Socks spent the time examining his expression. He watched how his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, wrinkles forming just from that action alone, the pout on his face as he think about the longterm benefits. 

They were never sure what part of Joocie was human, what part was robot and-  _ whatever his hair is _ . His expression was one of those things. No matter how expressive he is, how detail his lips, eyes, eyebrows, eyelashes and skin, they couldn't be one hundred percent sure with anything about Joocie's body. 

As he would always swim without a helmet, somehow managed to breathe perfectly without it. His hair not breaking apart submerged in water but slowly drying out and breaking in an extremely slow pace in the nether, freezing up and slowly cracking in cold temperature. 

Joocie was quite...  unique. 

"Sorry but, I'm going have to say no." Socks sighed out and looked up towards the ceiling windows. 

He wasn't that surprised, but that didn't make it hurt any less. "I'm still friends with everyone else and.. I, I don't really want to leave them so soon." 

He didn't miss how careful Joocie was with his wording. He clearly didn't want to hurt Socks by mistake, which he cracked a smile at. 

"Yeah, I'm not surprised." He felt arms wrapped him. He leaned into Joocie's waist. "I might chance my mind though."

That was an empty promise. Although he did appreciate the effort to cheer him up. 

They stayed there for a long time, embracing each other as it was most likely one of the few interactions they would have for the next few... months,  years even?

"They can't see you with me," Socks pointed out the obvious, finally deciding to cross the bridge. "Yeah," Joocie acknowledged. "We pretend that... We pretend that this never happened." 

Socks nodded his head and moved to get up. He felt hands grabbed onto his shoulders and was pulled back into the bed.

"Wait, let me get some resources for you." 

Before he could protest, Joocie dashed outside of the hanger, leaving him alone one again. 

He decided to get some sleep. It'll most likely be the last time he felt safe enough to shut his eyes. 

He was woken up by the sound of footsteps running in the hanger. 

It could be because of paranoid or that whoever's still sleeping in the base were heavy sleepers. Although, Joocie definitely was a sneaky man if he wanted to be so it was most likely the former.

He sat up and found Joocie running in with a golden bag in his hand. 

"Laff taught me about this," Joocie started, slowing down as he neared Socks. "You can store an entire inventory worth of items in it. So I crafted one for you, just felt like it might be useful." 

He looked towards the bag, the moonlight bouncing off of it and giving it the illusion that it was shining. 

"What did you even put in here man?" Socks asked. Joocie handed him bag and he accepted it, fascinated by the new item he never seen before. He ignored Joocie's chuckle and focused on studying the small pouch size bag. 

"I just stuff some food, materials and resources, you know? I would've put in some clothes for you if I could." 

"This is... already a lot." Socks stood up, looking over to meet Joocie's eyes. "I...  thank you . I don't know if I can ever repay your kindness." 

Joocie cracked a smile and stepped forwards. "You don't need to, Socks. You're my friend, after all. It's my pleasure to help you." 

They stared at each other for a few seconds. Joocie opened his arms and Socks dived into them, holding onto him like he was going to die. 

"Goodbye Socks," He muttered into his ear. "'Til the next time we meet." 

Socks broke the hug and looked up, making eye contact with Joocie one last time. They were still holding onto each other's arms, as if they'll disappear once they let go.

Which was admittedly true to some extent. 

"Bye Joocie." He stepped backwards, letting go of his friend. "'Til the next time we meet." 

With that, he turned around and ran as far as he could, away from the hanger, away from the village, away from the ruins of home, and away from his last friend. 

The night became day and day became night, the cycle continued on and with each passing days.

Time once again escaped his grasp. 

They laughed, mocked him even when they left, leaving him nothing to remember them by. 

He could no longer tell between days and months, maybe even years. He wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. 

Although, it would be horrifying to realise just truly how much time he lost out there, alone and desperately trying to survive.

If it weren't for his need to travel every few months in the past before this world, he probably wouldn't even be alive. 

That didn't mean that he didn't discovered and learned new things of the world though.

Despite getting a decent grasp of understanding when they first ended up in the world, only a handful of them have decided to travel out into the world as the villagers have welcomed them with opened arms. 

Even then, they would travel in big groups, to ensure no one would be seriously hurt during the travels. 

Socks rarely travel out, mostly because his friends who were more adapted to civilised life begged for the more adventurous friends to stay in the village. Most of them ended up staying in the village on the condition they can travel out every once two months. 

So to say his survivor skills were slightly weakened was an understatement. 

He had difficulty finding any sheep, which resulted in him hesitantly returning towards Laff's home to sheer his sheep. It ended in him screaming and running away with some bullet holes in his body. 

It didn't make it any better than he was wearing Joocie's hoodie. 

It was cold and the daycare uniform was literal pieces of crap, the wind easily went through the uniform and sent him shivering. 

He was crawled up underneath the warm blanket of his newly made bed when he received a private message. 

How did he know it was a private message? He muted the public chat and not a single soul have decided to message him privately up until that moment. 

_ Joocie_ whispered to you: What are your coordinations? I can bring some potions and bandages over  _

He sat up and just stared at the message. 

He eventually typed out a respond. 

_ You whispered to Joocie_: You don't need to come here, I'm fine  _

After he sent it, he quickly added in a smiley face in hopes to lower Joocie's concern and worry for him. 

_ Joocie_ whispered to you: Are you sure? Did you pull out the bullets? If so, how?  _

Oh goddamnit. Joocie either knew him too well it was far too nice. 

He was hoping it was the latter. 

He thought about it for a while before responding to him. 

_ You whispered to Joocie_: Yeah, I'm sure. You don't need to worry about me.  _

He was hoping that Joocie missed him dodging the question. 

_ Joocie_ whispered to you: If you say so _

He sighed out in relief and slumped into his bed. He typed in a goodnight message and blacked out. 

They began talking a lot more through private messaging each other. In all of the conversation, Joocie have snuck in the question if they could've met up. Then Socks would declined the offer. 

Paranoid would spike up in isolation, and he had no idea how long he was alone for until Joocie decided to talk to him. Even then, they had to stay up on late nights to chat with each other, which caused Socks to fail to get any more sleep. 

And paranoid definitely grown more with the lesser sleep he got. 

He was fully aware that Joocie meant well and had no clue that he procrastinated going to sleep by gathering resources, upgrading his shelter, weapons and armour, getting food and all the basis needed to survive. But getting his only form of social interaction caused him precious sleep and more alertness in him.

He thinks he started hearing voices because of it, actually.

He tried to the best of his ability to ignore them. 

It was easier if it was the unfamiliar voice that often tried to chat with him. If it was the voice of his old friends, he had difficulty dismissing them. 

He couldn't recall when it started or who it was that he first heard. But boy, did he felt like he was being haunted. 

With the whispers shifting from sweet nothingness to cruel words, he easily got distracted when he was trying to survive. Somehow though, he managed to never die once when he got stuck into the void of meanness or sweet, little lies. 

Although those moments were rare, where he'll let himself stray towards the kind words in the voice of his old friends. He only gets stuck into them when he was beyond tired. 

A void of insults and mockery were a lot easier to be dragged into, no matter how tired or awake he was. It was a guarantee that he would be distracted when he first heard them, whether it would be for a minute or for hours. 

In this case, it was most likely hours. He was snapped awake when he heard a ghast screeched out, then saw a fireball heading towards his way. 

He screamed out and jumped back, narrowly avoiding the fireball heading towards him. He flinched when his back hit the wall. Socks got off the wall as fast as he could, breathing heavily as his mind drifted in and out of reality. 

He stayed put in reality when he heard another screech coming from a ghast. 

He quickly recovered and ran off, projecting the holographic screen from his wrist device. He grabbed the bow and pulled it out with his right hand, with no more need for anything else in his inventory, his left hand moved downwards to pull out an arrow from the pocket of his daycare pants. 

He sharply turned around and loaded the bow, he carefully aimed as he ran backwards, occasionally turning around to make sure he doesn't die. He shot and pulled out another arrow. 

He bit down on his lips when he felt buzzing from his wrist device. 

Is it already past midnight? 

Seriously? Wow.

He let go of his arrow once again, grinning widely when he heard the dying screech of the ghast. He ran forwards to pick up the loot dropped. He shoved it into the golden bag given to him by Joocie. 

He stood up and was about to check his messages when he heard Meme's voice. 

He ignored it, more focus on Joocie and heading back to his base. 

His eyes widened, his jaw dropping when he saw the message.

_ Joocie_ whispered to you: They found you _

_ Joocie_ whispered to you: I'll try to distract everyone back in the overworld _

_ Joocie_ whispered to you: It's Meme, Blaza, Nadwe, Tbh and Oompa _

_ Joocie_ whispered to you: Please stay safe _

He screamed out when he heard bullets firing. He flinched and his knees buckled when he felt sharp pain in his legs, arm and chest. He quickly recovered and stood up straight, running away from the direction of the bullets.

He was flung forwards when he felt electricity going through his body. He fell forwards and quickly recovered. He pulled out his arrows and spared a quick glance behind him. 

He aimed at the bat rapidly flying towards him. He let it go, not that surprised when Nadwe popped up, landing like a superhero of some kind. 

_ There is no way Laff didn't noticed he hasn't been cleansed yet.  _

The bright, red eyes shot towards him, grinning widely when they landed onto him. " _ Socks! _ " He taunted, his fangs standing out to him. 

Fear struck into him despite him never being scared of the vampire before.

He suddenly remembered his ability to shapeshift and turned around. He screamed out as he transformed into a chameleon and the world grew bigger. He ran as fast as his little legs could muster, the startled screams of his old friends echoed out. 

" _..._ _ rgot he could do t...! _ " He faintly heard Oompa screamed out. 

He pulled out an ender pearl from his inventory via the wrist device and threw it onto another island, area, _whatever_ , that was below the grounds he was currently on. 

He wasn't safe as a chameleon, the mobs could still sense him and his health was drastically lowered compared to before. 

So he transformed back to human, quickly learning that his effort to hold back his pained screams was useless when he heard someone called out his name. 

He ran as fast as he could. 

On the run, he pulled off the Joocie's hoodie tied to his waist and put it on. He took out his armour through his wrist device and slapped it onto him hastily. His breathing quickly grew heavy as he felt himself began to heat up underneath the layers of clothing. 

He pulled out the vanilla wooden sword that stayed with him ever since they first entered the world and a vanilla bow, which was enchanted, glowing purple with some spells that appeared to be powerful.

_ It had to be powerful, he could kill a mutant and decently powerful monster with three or five arrows only.  _

He dangled his wooden sword around his waist and pulled out an arrow. 

Socks turned around with speed that should've snapped his neck and burying his heels into the ground. He aimed and let go, grinning weakly when he heard Nadwe screamed out and watched him fall onto the ground. 

He pulled out his other pearl, leaving only one pearl left in his inventory. He turned back and threw it towards an area higher than he was on. He felt multiple different things shot into him, along hearing bullets and sparkles of electricity. 

He screamed out when the ground below him vanished. He shot his hands up and gripped onto the burning ground, hissing when his poorly healed hand burned even more. 

He began climbing up the wall, biting down onto his lips painfully. A scream was forced out of his throat as he transformed into a chameleon once again. He immediately fell onto the ground once he saved himself from danger. 

His stomach hurt even more from screaming as he morphed back into his human form, flinching at the sudden heat that shot through his body. 

He guessed the chameleon could withstand the hot ground of the nether without any extra protection needed. 

He got up onto his leg with little difficulty and continued to run forwards. 

He glanced over towards his wrist device when he heard a buzz. 

_ Joocie_ whispered to you: I tried my best  _

His breath hitched and he stopped in his track. Socks quickly recovered and continued to run, more focus on reading the messages now. 

_ Joocie_ whispered to you: I'm bringing a loaded gun  _

_ Joocie_ whispered to you: I'll try to drop it onto the ground but I need you to injury me if I'm pretty close to you _

_ Joocie_ whispered to you: Make it look like you saw an opportunity to steal the gun _

_ Joocie_ whispered to you: You're smart like that so they wouldn't even question it _

He looked up and screamed out, digging his heels into the ground to avoid falling into the lava. He stumbled forwards, soon regaining his balance. He sighed out in relief and stepped back. 

He stopped  just at the edge of the cliff. 

He turned around, freezing in spot when he saw Blaza, Meme and Tbh getting rapidly close to him. Blaza stopped, seemingly skating towards him. He aimed the gun at him. 

He screamed out, flinching when he felt pain spout out in his knee.

Socks fell onto the ground. He looked down and found a damp in his leggings. He projected his inventory, widening his eyes in panic when he saw how low his legging durability was.

"Well. Well. Well." He looked up and found them closer towards him than before. Meme was crossing his arms, a wand in his hand with a smug grin on his face. Tbh was smiling, although it was more calm than excited. He was standing to Meme's right while Blaza was on his left. Blaza's expression was blank, although Socks could basically feel the anger fuming off of him. "Look who do we have here."

"Is that Joocie's hoodie?" Tbh asked, tilting his head. He leaned forwards and placed his arms behind his back, his smile widened. 

Socks opened his mouth to respond, only to enter a short coughing fit. He held onto his throat and groaned out.

"Oh wow, you haven't been using your voice huh?" Meme quizzed. Blaza cut in, "Did your screaming exhaust you or what?" 

He snapped his eyes towards them and scooted backwards, breathing heavily.

"Take off the armour," Blaza ordered, pointing the gun at him again. "And throw it to the ground." He noticed Meme and Tbh glanced at him with surprised eyes, they quickly recovered though. "What he said!" 

He groaned out and looked back towards his lap. He sighed out and gave in. 

_ Joocie was gonna come and help him anyways. _

He took of his helmet first and threw it to the ground. "Socks with no brim!" Tbh joked immediately and he shot him an annoyed look. 

"Hey! Continue stripping!" Meme ordered. Socks flinched, yelping out when Blaza fired a warning shot right next to him. Meme quickly added in, "B- but not in that way!" 

" _ You're the one that made it weird _ ," Socks mumbled weakly. He coughed out and moved his hand to punch his chest in order to calm himself down. 

"You wanna speak up Socks?"

He kept silence and just removed his boots, throwing it away. 

"That's what I thought." 

He rolled his eyes, scoffing out. 

He shakily got up, leaning heavily onto his right leg. With some struggle, he slowly pulled down his leggings. His eyes widened when he saw the blood above his right ankle and the tiny amount of blood leaking from his knee. 

He cursed out and threw it into the pile, falling back onto the ground.

Socks began breathing heavier. He moved to pulled off his chest plate with shaking hands, struggling when it came to lifting his left arm. 

After pulling off his chest plate, he immediately spotted blood dripping from his left arm. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that someone had hit his shoulder and somewhere above his elbow. 

That explained his struggle. 

He threw it away and looked up to glare at them.

"We'll be waiting here until everyone else show up." 

He looked down towards his wrist device and brought it to his face. He looked up the chat and read the previous messages, his eyes widening when he saw them. 

_ <LaffenGas> We're heading over now _

He scrolled up and read each one of them, realisation hit him that he could've figure out everything before Joocie even message him. If only he simply didn't just muted the chat. 

_ <FatMemeGod> WE FOUND SOCKS _

_ <Woolfster> wait really?  _

_ <oompaville> -938 -56 2117  _

_ <oompaville> those are the coordinates  _

_ <FatMemeGod> we're in the nether by the way _

He stared blankly at it, slowly cracking a tensed smile. He broke into a nervous laughter, tears prickling at the corner of his eyes. 

This was his fault. 

He wheezed out and crawled in on himself. He grabbed onto his hair tightly, pushing his face into his knees. 

_ He wasn't smart, he was so, so unbelievably stupid. _

_ Joocie you tried, you really did but your effort was in vain, you couldn't predict my stupidity.  _

The world became black as he hysterically laughed, choking on his own tears. He couldn't hear a thing but his own sobbing, he couldn't see anything through the blurry vision. 

When he finally returned to the world, he looked and noticed everyone there, surrounding him. Everyone but Dino, for some reason. 

Laff stepped forwards with his usual sword in his right hand, offering a hand towards. "Come on Socks, it's time you finally face justice." He felt a buzz from his wrist device and eyed Laff. He looked down towards it and scooted back.

_ Joocie_ whispered to you: They're going to kill you when we go back home _

"Socks, it's better to accept your fate rather than to further delay it."

_ Joocie_ whispered to you: And I don't know if they want you permanently dead  _

He looked back and stared into the gas mask. Laff lowered his hand. "We can... we can talk about it back home. I still have some questions." He gripped onto his pants tightly, his breathing picking up. 

He opened his mouth to speak before coughing out. 

"Oh  Jesus! Do you want some water?" 

He rapidly shook his head, covering his mouth as he continued his coughing pit. 

When he eventually calmed down and looked up to meet their gaze. 

He looked through the crowd, his eyes landing onto Joocie. Their eyes locked with each other and he mouthed some words to him, however he was too distracted to note it down. He mouthed a reply to Joocie before hastily standing up, missing his friend's confused reaction. 

_ 'I'm sorry.' _

He pulled out the bag using his left hand. " Hey Meme guess wha t," He coughed out, shaking forwards with it. He didn't missed the concerned and confused expression at his quiet, raspy voice. 

"Socks, I feel like you actually need some water." 

He ignored the suggestion by Meme. He pulled out a book with his right hand that he haven't brought up in years- months...  weeks? His eyes widened in horror when he realised truly how much time have escaped him. 

"Is- Is that my medical degree?"

He broke into a grin.

He placed it over the edge and immediately everyone froze up. 

"Don't you dare." 

" You should've -" His body shook downwards when he coughed out. He missed how Meme tensed up. " You should've expected this ." 

"Socks."

" Meme God ." Laff turned around to face him. "Calm down, we don't wanna do anything irrational." 

_** Is that hypocrisy, I smell? ** _

Oh god, it's that voice again. 

_** Yup! It's me, the 'unknown' voice ** _

_** Clearly Juicy is very useless in this situation, I can help you ** _

"Socks, think carefully about what you're gonna do next," Laff warned, edging closer to him. "We can do the easy way, where we'll bring you back home and I can ask you some questions. Or... we can do the hard way."

He looked towards Laff then back at Meme. 

" Socks ..." He said in a warning tone.

" Laff ." He retuned, a cough ripping itself from his throat.

"You're not thinking rationally. You've been alone for months-"  _ That explained why his throat hurt so badly from just speaking _ . "-and clearly it had taken a toll on ya. So let's put the book away..."

"You  told me it's bad to think with emotions ." His voice shook with each words, his stomach growing in pain. Despite that however, he still continued. "You  didn't even give me a chance to defend myself. You  just decided I was guilty right then and there ."

"In my defence, that was your voice and your face."

"We didn't even see my face!" Socks snapped, throwing his hands up. "It was  just my voice." 

_** Was it though?  ** _

_** Was it truly yours, my bestest of friend? ** _

He ignored the voice easily despite what it just implied to him. 

"Socks. If we find any hard evidence against that video-"

" I don't care! " Socks screeched out, throwing the useless book and stomping onto it. " Nothing will ever be the  same! " He knocked the book off, looking back at them with a challenging look in his eyes. 

He widened his eyes and brought his arms up in front of his face. 

" Meme! " He heard some voices scream out. Then he felt electricity once again shot through him. 

He flinched and screamed out, stumbling back. He froze up, his eyes widening when he felt nothing underneath his foot. 

Screams filled his ears as he felt wind rushing past him. 

Soon, another person entered his vision. He was fully suited with dragon armour, a noticeable, large pair of wings behind him. He got closer towards him, the wings flapping desperately in attempt to get closer towards him. 

He felt two hands clasped onto his wrist. Then he felt himself being pulled out. 

He looked down and realised how close he was to his death. A realisation hit him soon after. 

Respawn was on, as long as they have their wrist device on, or if it wasn't damaged, then they'll return after death. Although they only had three lives,  maybe less ,  maybe more , they weren't sure, but it will be an easy escape.

He brought up his trusted, wooden sword and cut into him arm, tearing it off.

He'll get it back when he respawns. He was confident because of past experience. 

He heard Woolf screamed out and then felt the wind returned. Soon, warm embraced him and he embraced it in return. 

**_ Are you happy now? _ **


	2. Runaway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dino sees a message

_ <FatMemeGod> WE FOUND SOCKS _

That caught Dino's attention. He projected a holographic screen from his wrist device, going to settings and making his chat bigger. 

_ <Woolfster> wait really?  _

_ <oompaville> -938 -56 2117  _

_ <oompaville> those are the coordinates  _

_ <FatMemeGod> we're in the nether by the way _

Curiosity sparked in him. So he packed up everything, keeping them tucked away in his chests safely. 

He pulled out blocks of obsidians from one of his many set of chests, along with a flint and steel. 

He placed it down in a 4x5 frame, without any corners. It would only be temporary, so he'll need it to destroy it as fast as he could manage. 

He looked down to the chat projected from his wrist device. 

_ <Joocie_> Should we grab something? _

_ <MrBlaza_> he only has a bow and wooden sword _

_ <MrBlaza_> he's not that big of a threat _

He broke up the flint and steel then lit up the portal. He felt wind blew out from the portal. He brought up his arms to block his eyes as purple light combusted and shot out, going though his chest. 

Dino stepped back, being pushed back from the sheer power of bringing the portal to live. 

When the intensity of the portal calmed down, he lowered his arms and looked to the portal.

He stepped forwards and entered the portal. 

He pulled out an ear piece and placed over his ear to cover it, bringing out the other piece and doing the same thing. A holographic screen appeared between them, wrapping itself around his eyes like a visor. 

He glanced down to his wrist device and activated coordinates, which was displayed in his visor. 

He projected the screen and looked at it to note down the coordinates. 

He stopped upon seeing the new messages.

_ <oompaville> socks shot nadwe so I'm staying back  _

Then he saw the new coordinates and looked back to his visor, realising that he was fairly close to it. 

He looked down to his armour and checked his inventory once again. After moving some things around, he felt confident in his ability to protect himself and thus, walked off towards the coordinates. He had decided to stay fairly close enough to listen in on the conversation but far away enough so no one will spot him. 

_ <LaffenGas> We're heading over now _

When he spotted the two, he stopped in his track. Dino looked around for a hiding spot, diving into one as soon as his eyes landed onto it. He crouched down and peeked over to watch the two. 

He waited until everyone else showed up and for them to start walking off. 

After some distance, he began following them, a shotgun in his hand in order to protect himself in case they start attacking him. He removed the visor in order to see everything better. 

They made some small talk that he mostly tuned out. He was more or less curious about everything that will happen with Socks. 

To say his view of the spaceman haven't soured just a bit would be... a big lie, even bigger than if you were to say Wiktoria's death didn't affected Meme in anyway, shape or form. 

However, unlike the grief stricken man, he's willing to push aside any form of bias to ensure his survival.

No one believes in his innocence, similar to Socks' situation. As soon as they brought up who could've potentially killed Wiktoria, they immediately turned on him. 

He sees their reasoning though and understands it, he knows Socks is also reasonable enough to understand that. Well, as reasonable as you can be after months of isolation. 

The point is, he and Socks are in a very similar hell hole, and Dino's willing to turn a blind eye to his crime if Socks is willing to work with him. 

Which he feels like he would be. 

It was either that or death and,  well , Dino knows Socks can be quite stubborn at times.

Despite holding grudges, he knew fully well Socks knows the best for himself. 

It'll probably take no time and a few sweetened words before he managed to get Socks to join him willingly, the blunt approach might be better actually now that he thinks of it. 

He stopped in his tracks when he heard sobbing. 

Maybe months of isolation had some...  _ irreversible _ effect on Socks compared to _his_ time alone. 

He noticed everyone surrounding Socks and looked around to spot for a hiding spot above ground. Eventually, he resulted to grabbing some netherack and building a natural looking area. 

From this position, he could see everything clearly. 

He felt uncomfortable with watching his old friend break down and thus, looked away. When he heard the crying fade away and Laff called out Socks' name, only then did he looked back. 

He expected them to escort him back to the village and sent them to daycare while they prepared for his death. 

Instead, he got a confusing scene. 

It remained him of a crowd of people trying to convince someone to not kill themselves, except it was to convince Socks to go back with them. 

He widened his eyes when he saw Socks pulled out a glowing book. 

That is...  _ certainly be an advantage .  _

He looked over towards Socks and cracked out an amused smile. 

No matter how much he managed to piss them off, his intelligence were still very admirable to Dino. 

He soon realised that Socks' control over his own emotion has spiralled out so  far away from his reach when he threw the book onto the ground. 

He jumped back when Meme stepped forwards, pushing Laff away and pointing his wand at Socks. 

He watched as a bright light flashed out and felt his wrist device buzzed. 

Dino slapped a hand over his mouth when he saw Socks fell off the cliff. His eyes moved down to stare at the new message, his heart beginning to beat rapidly as his eyes landed onto it. 

His breath hitched when he saw the message and panic flooded through his system. 

_ therealsocksfor1's connection to the outside have broken _

_ Do not harm the player _

He glanced over just as Woolf dived in to save him. Dino let out a sigh of relief and broke into a smile. 

It was immediately wiped off his face when he heard Woolf screamed out, soon followed by his wrist device buzzing. 

He hesitantly looked down to stare at the message. 

Dino jumped onto his feet and ran away like a coward. 

He can deal with his friends turning against each other, he can deal with fighting with what he considered his old friends, he can deal with learning that his friend was a traitor and he can deal with all of his friends turning against him. 

And yet...

_ therealsocksfor1 won't be waking up again _

_ Death source, lava _

He couldn't deal with his ex friend permanently dying.


End file.
